Editing Athena Parthenos (section)

{{Short description|Sculpture of the Greek goddess Athena}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
[[File:NAMA_Athéna_Varvakeion.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Varvakeion Athena]] reflects the type of the restored Athena Parthenos: Roman period, 2nd century CE ([[National Archaeological Museum of Athens]]).]]
The statue of '''''Athena Parthenos'''''{{refn|group=N|The earliest known references to Pheidias's statue date from the 5th century BCE, and refer to it generically as the statue, the image or the goddess, IG I<sup>3</sup> 453-460. The earliest use of the epithet "Parthenos" was in the late 4th or the early 3rd c by Philippides, in a passage preserved by Plutarch, (Dem. 26). See C. Cullen Davison, Pheidias: The Sculptures and Ancient Sources, Vol. 1, Oxford, 2009, pp.69-70.}} ({{langx|grc|Παρθένος Ἀθηνᾶ|lit=Athena the Virgin}}) was a monumental [[chryselephantine]] sculpture of the goddess [[Athena]]. Attributed to [[Phidias]] and dated to the mid-fifth century BCE, it was an offering from the city of [[Athens]] to Athena, its [[tutelary deity]]. The [[cella|naos]] of the [[Parthenon]] on the [[acropolis of Athens]] was designed exclusively to accommodate it.

Many artists and craftsmen worked on the realization of the sculpture, which was probably built around a core of [[cypress]] wood, and then paneled with gold and ivory plates. At about 13 meters high, the statue reflected the established aesthetic [[Artistic canons of body proportions|canon]] of the [[severe style]] ([[Peplos|clothing]]) while adopting the innovations of the high classical ([[Contrapposto|leg position]]). She was helmeted and held a large round shield and spear, placed on the ground to her left, next to her sacred snake. Clothes, jewellery, accessories, and even the statue base were decorated, mainly with the snake and [[gorgon]] [[Motif (visual arts)|motif]].

The statue was lost at an unknown date sometime in the [[1st millennium|first millennium]]. Several replicas and works were inspired by the original.